Development of a thermal probe is proposed to non-invasively measure local blood perfusion in tissue. The device will consist of a single probe which can be actively heated or cooled and put in contact with the skin. This creates a transient heat flux, which is measured as a function of time. Together with a simultaneous measurement of the surface temperature, this allows calculation of the thermal diffusivity and local perfusion of the tissue. Recent development of a new type of heat flux gage makes this new biomedical technique possible. These microsensors have been produced and shown to work. The proposed research is to apply these sensors to probes which can be used for a wide variety of novel measurements in living tissues.
